Sit and Watch Your Life Reel Through!

I love sports. My interest in sports pushed me to know the rules of many sport events that I would never participate in or probably never witness others playing. In particular, like 75% of the 170 million people in my country, I love football. I so love football that I used to sit long periods at a time discussing the players’ rumors, the possible transfer headlines, the problem with referees and lots more. Sometimes our discussion leads us on journeys back in the days and we vividly describe events that happened then.

Recently in one of such discussions we traveled back in time to the world cup event of 1994 – US ’94 it was popularly called – and discussed the many euphoric moments. Our country was represented for the first time on the biggest football stage on the planet. We went there as African champions and I vividly remember thinking – rather erroneously with hindsight - that we would be certainly unstoppable after gloriously conquering Africa just some months earlier.

Suddenly it dawned on me that this sports event I was vividly describing was twenty years ago! Where had all the time gone? Twenty years! If this was US ’94 then I am twenty years in the future. The obvious question that arose was, “Was this the future I envisioned?” I refused to answer not because I didn’t know the right answer but because I didn’t want to hear it.

Our lives do not come to us all at once. I remember my father describing fifty-year-old events “as though it were just yesterday.” Our lives come in years, and years in months, and months in weeks, and weeks in days, and days in hours, and hours in minutes and seconds. It stands to reason that what you do with the seconds – the very second you are living through right now – determines what will be the outcome of the results you will produce in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and ultimately in your life.

If the next twenty years – 2034 – would bring better outcomes I must ask myself the difficult question, “What am I doing with this second?” It is the same with you and your friends and your family. We have all the power to choose what we do with this second but we have no power whatsoever to determine the outcomes we would experience in the next twenty years.

Choose wisely.

Setting Your Soul

What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ­– Jesus

There is an unspoken thing that determines if a person will yield or refuse to yield to anything – good or bad, wrong or right. It is the setting of your soul, your hearts disposition. This determines to extents that cannot be estimated what happens to you. It determines how you react or respond to stimulus. It interrupts the cause and effect process and gives you the power to determine the direction of your life.

Let’s say the president of your country decides to lift the ban on imported leather. You will interpret his move based on the setting of your soul. If your soul is set on the need to empower the shoe making industry and creating employment you will celebrate it. If on the other hand you are a manufacturer of local leather I would suppose that your soul will be set on the opposite. We all see the world and every single thing that happens to us through the lens of our soul settings. These settings determine how we see ourselves, our environments, the world, and what we get out of our lives.

In the Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, there are two famous (infamous in some cases) doors. One is labeled, “PREJUDICED,” and the second, “UNPREJUDICED.” The second doesn’t open. The idea behind the two doors is to show that there is nothing called an “Unprejudiced Adult.” The museum designers recognize that we all have set our souls.  

The American writer and poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, summarizes my thought line well when she wrote:

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.

‘Tis the set of the sails,

And not the gales,

That tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate;

As we voyage along through life,

‘Tis the set of a soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm, or the strife.

How have you set your soul?

The Karoshi Effect

By the seventh day God had finished his work and so he rested. ­– Genesis 2:2

The Japanese term, Karoshi, means, “Death by overwork.” It is used to press upon the mind the literal effect of overwork. The Japanese even made a computer game with the same theme in which the goal is to so overwork yourself in every level until it leads to your death. It is a suicide game but you only die by work overload.

When considering this rather bizarre gaming concept I cannot help but see how closely related it is to many lives in our societies. In a bid to work hard, or increase in productivity, folks literally work themselves to death. In an article I wrote on the work rat-race many-a-folk are in, I spoke of a cycle of death that they cannot get themselves out of. This is so because they want to satisfy the basest of human needs – survival. [To read more on this article, click here].

Work should give you more life and vigor and not kill you. Every work should have a beginning and an end. When you get to the end, rest! Overwork has numerous negatives, the most obvious and immediate being stress and burnout. Stress on its own is a normal reaction to any physical or psychological demand, but prolonged and repeated exposure to stress can lead to burn-out, which brings with it a myriad of diseases.

In addition, overwork disrupts normal body processes. For example, it is normal for any human body to produce insulin, which breaks sugar. Sleep deprivation from overwork disrupts the body’s natural ability to produce insulin, thereby leaving a possibility of Diabetes.

To control your work schedule and not overwork, you should work smarter. This means you focus on the work at hand and ensure that all distractions, like social phone calls and social media platforms, are off limits. This way you will do more in a shorter period and hence have time to rest. You should also take breaks intermittently rather than work on a stretch. You should get sufficient sleep every night. Do not underestimate the positive effect a good night rest can have to your success. Finally, set work boundaries and rest boundaries. This means that you place a limit as to what you do during your work period and also during your rest time.

Are You Making Progress in a Rat Race?

“You are the part of rat race because you are letting them treat you like a rat. This is the modern definition of a slave.” – Saurabh Sharma (Author)

Have you been in a situation where you get tired every other day and yet wonder if the energy you exert daily is worth the effort? Does it seem to you sometimes that you are taking two steps forward and three backward? Wake up! You may be in a rat race.

I remember once watching a film that had a scene in a science laboratory. It had in it a rat that continually ran earnestly in a spinning circle. It was obvious that the rat was exerting a lot of energy and was “thinking” that by running fast enough it was making progress in getting away from his captors. Little did it know that it was caught up in a vicious cycle.

Many of us are like that rat (no insult intended). We are caught up in a race and we have been exerting all our energies, creative abilities, finances, and intent in winning. Little do we know that the fact that we are running does not mean we are progressing.

A rat race is put upon us by a system. In this system things have a pattern in which they must operate. We are simply a part of this pattern and nothing more. We are expected to do the same things over and over until “expertise” is attained. At this point we are either promoted or paid higher for our “contributions”. Little do we know that the promotion or pay increase is not different from a bigger spinning circle given to a laboratory rat.

To make progress you must be on your own unique path. You must be pursuing a predetermined goal and taking premeditated actions toward it. Progress is intentional. It does not come on you but you work and walk toward it.

Rat races cut across education, occupation and career, religion, and relationships. I have been in them, in fact, I still know some that I am in at the moment. But I do not desire to remain in them. I often evaluate my actions and ask myself in every aspect of my life if I am caught up in a rat race. What I want to see is progress in every area – all cylinders firing.

I suggest you ask yourself if you are in a rat race or a progress race. 

Goal Action Stage: IGNORE DISTRACTIONS

In this article I conclude on the topic: HOW TO ACHIEVE GOALS.

You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks. - Winston Churchill

Three boys were set for a race and their fathers served as their motivators by staying at the finishing line and waiting to receive their boys. When the whistle sounded, they all shot up as best they could. In a short while one of the boys took an early lead, clearly having the momentum to win the race. He began to look behind him to see how far ahead of his competitors he was. Suddenly he lost his footing and his lead. The second boy hence took the lead and was in front for some considerable distance but he was too obsessed with the cheers he received from the crowd that he lost his footing too. The third boy then took the lead and won the race that he began as last. When asked what made him win he said, “All I did was keep my eyes on my Dad and ensure I wasn’t distracted by anything.”

Every time we desire to achieve a goal we will be faced with distractions. There are a thousand distractions around us. Failures in the past, fear, low self-esteem, are some of the things that commonly distract folks from their goals. Interestingly not all distractions are bad things. We could be distracted by very good things like money, fame, and success. So I would say that a distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the goal.

You must have the tenacity to keep hitting at the direction of your goal. All too often beginning is not a problem it is finishing that overwhelms us. Solomon (king of Israel) noted that, “Endings are better than beginnings, sticking to it is better than standing out.” When you have such an attitude it won’t matter what comes to you. Suddenly, no obstacle will look insurmountable, no fear will cripple, and no failure will be permanent.

Distractions will come – in fact they should come because they are refiners of character. The people that win irrespective of them are the true winners. If you can stick to it irrespective of the distractions, you will eventually be like Joseph (Prime minister of Egypt) of whom it was said, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.”

Excellence

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." - Martin Luther King (jnr)

 How much boast can you make about your works? Can you boldly speak about the works of your hands and demand they speak for themselves? Can you append your name on your work if you knew it would be placed side-by-side with the best in your field?

If you would be tremendously successful you must have a spirit of excellence. This spirit will give you the boast for your work anywhere in the world because it dots the “i’s” and crosses the “t’s”. Noah had this spirit and so we read of him that, “Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.” To develop the spirit of excellence, consider the following:

Make every work a masterpiece. It is important you take every work you do as an extension of your life. People considering your works are not merely meeting a piece of work but are meeting you; what first impressions are you leaving?  If you have this in mind you will handle each task as a masterpiece work of art set with intent for the audience.

Develop skill. It is also important you develop skill in every detail of your works. The archaic definition of the word skill means to “make a difference”. In view of this, decide to make a difference in every area of your works. There is always something else you can do to improve your work. You do not need to do it the same way you have done it before neither do you have to do it the way others do it.

Learn from others. It is important to keep an ever- learning attitude in all you do. Don’t get to the point that you feel you know it all. If your heart is open there is always something you can learn from just about everyone.

Innovate. Innovation is the icing on creativity. It means to effect a change. Do not strive endlessly trying to do something nobody has done before. Simply change what has been, making it better.

Excellence is reserved for a select few – follow this and you will be one of them. 

Starting Where You are With What You Have

So the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. – Moses (at the burning bush)

     Take a survey, get on your street today and ask every willing volunteer the following questions; What to you dream to become? Why have you not become that thing? Most assuredly you will receive answers like I do not have the money, or It will not work in this place, or I do not have anybody to help me. These responses people have used to excuse their stagnancy and ineffectiveness. I dare say that all these answers are baskets used to carry water.

     We must all get our minds to understand that to succeed in any worthy venture you must start where you are. You do not need to go anywhere else. Take the first step where you are! Success begins at home. The thought that you must change location has made inactive cowards of us. Many think they would be successes if they were in the United States of America or some other “ideal” country their minds have built but they are grossly misled. Admittedly there are countries that have better economies and hence opportunities but no country assures a failure of success. Changing the location of a lizard does not change it to an alligator. In fact, changing the skin of a lizard to that of an alligator does not make it one, its “lizard-ness” is in its mind.

     Folks may then say, I will not change location but I still don’t have what it takes to achieve my dreams. True you may not have all it takes but you do have something. Everybody has something. It may be knowledge, wisdom, a family, a healthy body, time or beauty – doesn’t matter what. What is important is that you can use your limited resource to ignite the flames of your dream. God asked Moses a profound question: “What is in your hands?” and he said, “A staff.” How useful is a staff in fighting for freedom from the clutches of the most powerful living man of their time? Certainly it was little indeed. It was just that little staff that God needed to liberate Israel from bondage. That “thing” in your hands is more important than the combined power of all other resources you don’t have. 

             

Start where you are and with what you have. You may not be in the best location in the world, you may not have all the needed resources for you success journey, but to begin you don’t need the best location or all the resources. 

How to Love What You Do

Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might… - Solomon (King of Israel)   

It is popularly proclaimed that you must do what you love if you are to do it well. While that is certainly true, I would like to bring to your attention the flip side of this, namely, you must love what you do if you are to have a chance of succeeding in it. Steve Jobs once said, "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do a great work is to love what you do."

                For many of us our jobs are not necessarily that “thing” that does it for us. We dreamed we will be somewhere else doing something else other than what we are. Because of this we do not see anything but stress and frustration in carrying out our duties.

                If this is your state some change in paradigm may help. First, realize that your success journey is a JOURNEY. That word means that you are in a process and you are not yet there. Every step you take edges you closer to your destination. It is important that you handle your present job with respect and commitment so that it pushes you further in your journey.

                Also, you should believe that every phase in life is like a strand of thread in a large tapestry. Your success is by far bigger than any of your phases, and that includes the present, but it is each phase that builds up the end game just the way each seemingly insignificant thread is very important to the beautiful tapestry.

                Understand that ultimately the dots will connect. If you are like me you would have wondered why the dots in your life seem to stand chaotically. Do not let it get to you because you will eventually be able to connect the dots. No knowledge gotten in our success journey is a waste. If that is true then every experience at the moment is important for your progress.

                So, your attitude should be that of complete commitment to the thing you are presently involved in. pour your heart and energy into it. Do it with all your might, all your mind, all your knowledge, indeed all of you!

How to Overcome the Fear Factor

Then he asked them, Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? - Jesus (The Christ)

     I often ask people what their ambitions are. "What do you want to become?" I ask. Nine out of ten times I get answers like, "Economist," or "Banker," or "Lawyer," or the popular one – "Doctor". In all of these cases I push and ask, "What would you like to become if you knew you would absolutely succeed?" In other words I ask what ambition the person would have if he cannot fail? Seven out of ten times I get answers like, "Fashion designer," or "Singer," or "musician," or the surprising of all – "Dancer," from the same folks that chose the earlier "respectable" ones. 

    What this reveals to me is that the real reason the person mentioned the initial ambition was not necessarily because he desired to achieve it but because he was instructed by fear! It was fear – the fear of not making enough money to make ends meet – that led to the first choice.

Daily, folks are moved by fear into decisions. Fear of failure, of heights, of lack, of …death, push us into making decisions that sometimes define the whole of our lives and that of loved ones. What fears are pushing you?

     Fear cripples. I once chased a dear lizard to a wall and though walls are no limitations to lizards, this one repeatedly tried and failed to climb over. It could not climb because it was crippled by fear. What fears are crippling you?

   Fear lies. It never tells you what you can be. Rather, it sings to you stories of what you are not. Soon you begin to tell yourself those stories. Choose who you listen to.

   Some things we are afraid of do not exist! They feel like they do, look like they do, even smell like they do but the moment you approach them they fizzle away. I came across these timeless words: "Fear knocked on my door, faith answered and there was no one there."

   You will not succeed as you should if you remain as afraid as you are. You must dare! You must take the offensive! You must be bold – bold as a lion!

  Courage has never been the absence of fear. It is taking action irrespective of internal fears. Develop courage. All courageous people are fearful people that are taking actions nonetheless.

Tears for Wisdom

                       Wisdom cries out, she utters her voice on the streets… - Proverbs

    Some of us are familiar with the story of young Solomon, the king, who had a blank check to ask for whatever he desired from God and he chose to ask for wisdom to rule. He asked for this against the backdrop of all the other pleasant things he could have asked for the many other kings could have unselfishly asked for. This was the beginning of his being referred to as the wisest man to have walked the face of the earth.

      I would consider three spheres to developing wisdom.

     To be wise you would need to know yourself. It is interesting to note but a lot of people do not actually know themselves. They do not what they can do and what they can’t, do not know their likes and dislikes, do not know their talents and where they lack. This poor knowledge will certainly deter development of accompanying wisdom.

     Socrates, the great Greek philosopher once said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” When you start thinking that way you will begin to see reasons why you need more and more knowledge. Knowledge brings wisdom. Not all knowledgeable folks are wise but there is no empty-head wise person. Fran Lebowitz (American author) said, “Think before you speak. Read before you think.”

       Finally with experience comes responsibility for more wisdom. The things that have happened to you in the past, the people you have met, the relationships you have had, all these should not be taken for granted but rather should be referred to as a wellspring of experience never look down on. Draw in from your experiences for the wisdom you need at any moment.